Support arrangement for a web-carrying roller

ABSTRACT

A pair of first rollers is mounted for rotation about respective substantially parallel and horizontal longitudinal axes, and a second roller extends along and is supported on the first rollers for rotation about its own longitudinal axis. First and second spring arrangements are provided, each mounting one of the first rollers yieldable with reference to the second roller. The structures and spring characteristics of the spring arrangements are substantially identical, but the spring arrangements are arranged asymmetrically with reference to a vertical plane passing through the longitudinal axis of the second roller so that the spring effect afforded by the respective spring arrangements differs.

United States Patent 1 [111 3,902,677

Wolf Sept. 2, 1975 [54] SUPPORT ARRANGENIENT FOR A 3,334,834 8/1967 Davidson 242/65 WEBCARRYING ROLLER 3,394,897 7/ 1968 Martin 242/66 X [75] Inventor: Robert Wolf, Bopfingen, Germany 73 Assignee: J. M fvoixh GmbI-I, Heidenheim,

Germany [22] Filed: Apr. 9, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 459,355

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 12, 1973 Germany 2318351 [52] US. Cl. 242/66 51 Int. Cl B6511 17/08 [58] Field of Search 242/66, 78.7, 65, 68.7

[56] References Cited UNITED'STATES PATENTS 3,239,161 3/1966 Dutro 242/75.l 3,306,547 2/1967 Reid 242/66 Primary ExaminerEdward J. McCarthy Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Michael S. Striker ABSTRACT A pair of first rollers is mounted for rotation about respective substantially parallel and horizontal longitudinal axes, and a second roller extends along and is supported on the first rollers for rotation about its own longitudinal axis. First and second spring arrangements are provided, each mounting one of the first rollers yieldable with reference to the second roller. The structures and spring characteristics of the spring arrangements are substantially identical, but the spring arrangements are arranged asymmetrically with reference to a vertical plane passing through the longitudinal axis of the second roller so that the spring effect afforded by the respective spring arrangements differs.

7 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEU 2|975 3, 902,677

SUPPORT ARRANGEMENT FOR A WEB-CARRYING ROLLER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to a support arrangement, and in particular to a support arrangement for a web-carrying roller, such as a paper-carrying roller or the like. The invention is especially useful for a support arrangement in a paper machine winder, wherein two rollers carry a rewinding or unwinding roller for paper.

In arrangements of this type here in question there exists the problem that, due to vibrations of the webcarrying roller and the two supporting rollers which carry the web-carrying roller in turn, indentations are formed in the web-carrying roller or in the web which is wound onto the same. These always recur at one and the same point of the roller circumference, and thus be come progressively more pronounced. Not only does this result in disadvantageous stresses acting upon the various components of a machine including such an arrangement, but also the web cannot under the circumstances be wound uniformly onto the roller, and the package of web which will be wound onto the roller will be out-of-round.

It is therefore desirable to suppress such vibrations, and German allowed application No. 2,128,097 provides an arrangement in which especially the higherfrequency vibrations are absorbed by springs which mount one of the supporting rollers in a yieldable manner. Thus, the two supporting rollers can be otherwise identical, but due to the presence of the springmounting of one of them they have differential inherent vibratory frequencies, so that a summation of the frequencies of the two rollers, and therefore a damaging lers yieldable with reference to the second roller. The spring means have identical inherent spring characteristics but are arranged asymmetrically with reference to a vertical plane passing throughthe longitudinal axis of the second roller, so that the spring effect afforded by the respective spring means differs despite the identical inherent spring characteristics thereof.

In the construction according to the present invention, the vibrations which develop during operation of the arrangement act on the spring arrangements on lines extending through the center of the web-carrying roll, and the center of the respective supporting roller. As the lines of action associated with the two supporting rollers are located at an angle relative to each other, the vibrations will act on the respective spring arrangements at different angles and at different points, so that different resilience in the spring arrangements is obtained without requiring different or adjustable configurations for the supporting roller springs, their mounts of the web-carrying rollers, is precluded. The arrangement is not inherently suitable for negating the lowerfrequency vibrations which develop, but could be modified to achieve this purpose. In this case, both of the rollers would have to be spring mounted, and the resilients of the springs of one of the rollers of the supporting rollers would have to be set at a value different from that of the springs supporting the other roller. This, however, would require a relatively complicated construction, rendering the arrangement rather expensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a general object of the invention to provide a mounting arrangement of the type in question, which avoids the aforementioned disadvantages but is less complicated and expensive than if the above-outlined prior-art arrangement were modified to achieve the same results.

More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide such an arrangement which is capable of successfully neutralizing and suppressing all types of vibrations, i.e., both high-frequency and lowfrequency vibrations.

In keeping with the above objects, and with others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of the invention resides, in an arrangement of the character described, in a pair of first rollers mounted for rotation about respective substantially parallel and horizontal longitudinal axes, and a second roller extending along and supported on the first rollers, for rotation about its own longitudinal axis. First and second spring means are provided, each mounting one of the first rolor the supporting rollers themselves.

The springs of the spring arrangements may be leaf springs which may be clampingly mounted on appropriate supports, the points of such mounting being horizontally and vertically offset with respect ot the axis of rotation of the associated supporting roller, but in both instances (with respect to both rollers) toward one and the same side. a

It is possible to use horizontally extending leaf springs, provided that the vertical spacing between the axis of rotation of the respective supporting roller and the leaf spring is large enough. The resislience of the leaf springs in the direction of line of vibrating action will differ greatly for the different springs, so that different vibration characteristics are obtained for the different supporting rollers.

It is particularly advantageous if the longitudinal extent of such a leaf spring, that is the general plane thereof, forms an acute angle with a horizontal plane, because the vibrations emanating from the webcarrying roll will then act on the lead springs of one of the supporting rollers approximately normal with respect to the width of the spring, that is in the direction in which resilience of the spring is greatest. The vibrations acting on the leaf spring associated with the other supporting roller will act at an. acute angle to the transverse width of the spring, that is in a direction in which the spring will have a high degree of flexing resistance.

According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention the shaft ends of the supporting rollers may be connectedto pivotably mounted arm, each arm being supported by a spring, and the pivot mounts for these arms being offset both vertically and horizontally with reference to the axis of rotation of the respectively associated supporting roller.

In such a case, the line of vibratory action extending through the axis of rotation. of the respective supporting roller acts on the lever arm of the one supporting roller at a considerable distance from the pivot point of in the longitudinal direction of the supporting rollers, and the general plane of which forms an acute angle with a horizontal plane, the angle of both such springs opening toward one and the same side.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention, itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view analogous to FIG. 1, illustrating a second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a view analogous to FIG. 1, illustrating a third embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a further diagrammatic illustration, illustrating a fourth embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawing, and firstly to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, it will be seen that reference numeral 1 identifies a web-carrying roll, that is a roll on which a paper web or another type of web can be wound and/or from which it can be unwound. The roll 1 rests on and is supported by two supporting rollers 2, 3 at least one of which can be driven in rotation in a manner not illustrated but well known per se in the art. The rollers 2 and 3 have shafts 2a, 3a extending along their respective axis of rotation, and the opposite ends of these shafts are supported by leaf spring 4 is associated with the roller 2 and leaf spring 5 with the roller 3. The elongation of the leaf springs 4 and 5 correspond to the elongation of the roller 2 and 3, respectively. The manner in which the shaft end portions of the rollers are connected with the leaf springs 4 and 5 is not illustrated, because there is nothing novel involved in such a connection which can be of any well known type. The general plane of each leaf spring 4, 5 forms with a horizontal plane an angle which may be different from the two supporting rollers 2, 3, but which will always be larger than and smaller than 90"; both angles are open to one and the same side.

In this embodiment, vibrations which may develop when the roll 1 rotates, will act with practically identical intensity along the lines A and B which pass through the center of the roll 1 and through the axes of rotation of the respective support rollers 2 and 3. Since the leaf spring associated with the roller 3 has its broad side exposed to the vibrations acting upon the line B, the spring 5 will offer a springy resilience which is dictated by its thickness. On the other hand, since the leaf spring 4 associated with the supporting roller 2 has essentially its narrow side exposed to the vibrations acting along the line A, the spring 4 will offer only that resilience which corresponds to its transverse width which is evidently substantially greater greater than its thickness. In other words, the action of the spring 4 will be considerably stiffer than that of the spring 5. The springs 4 and 5 are identical in design and arrangement, but yet despite this identity of structure and inherent spring characteristic they will counteract the identical vibrations acting on them, with different opposing spring forces of different resilience.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2 like reference numerals identify like components as in FIG. 1, which is indeed the case in all other disclosed embodiments. Here, two leaf springs 14 and 15 are provided which support the supporting rollers 2 and 3, respectively, and which extend in the longitudinal direction of these rollers. The springs 14 and 15 are so arranged that their general planes are at least approximately horizontal. However, the mounting members 16 and 17 which engage marginal edge portions of the springs 14 and 15 (the springs of course extend normal to the plane of FIG. 2) are offset from the axis of rotation of the respectively associated supporting roller 2, 3. They are offset both vertically and horizontally, and the horizontal offset is in one and the same direction, that is towards the right in FIG. 2 with respect to the axis of rotation.

In this embodiment, the vibratory forces acting along lines A and B intersect the leaf spring 14 and 15 in the points A and B, respectively. It is evident that in this instance the spring characteristics, that is the resilience developed by the respective springs will depend upon the difference between the points A and B and the clamping members 16 and 17, respectively. It is also evident that this distance substantially differs in the case of the two leaf springs, in that it is substantially greater in the case of the leaf spring 14 than in the case of the leaf spring 15. Hence, the springs 14 and 15 and thereby the supporting rollers 2 and 3 carried by them will also develop different degrees of resilience with respect to these vibrations.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment which also incorporates leaf springs, here designated with reference numerals 24 and 25 and extending in longitudinal direction of the supporting rollers 2 and 3. The general planes of the leaf springs 24 and 25 form acute angles with a horizontal plane, as shown. These angles are again both open to one and the same side, namely towards the right in FIG. 3. Marginal edge portions 24a and 25a of the springs 24 and 25 are mounted in a support S, for instance a machine base or the like, and the rollers 2 and 3 are again carried by the springs 24 and 25, respectively. It is evident that the spring 25 willoppose the vibrations developing as a result of the rotation of the roll 1 by developing a resilience which is determined by the thickness of the spring 25, whereas the resilience opposed by the spring 24 in respect to these vibrations is detemined substantially by the transverse width of the spring 24, in view of the fact that the lines A and B act upon the springs 24 and 25 in entirely different manners. The angle included between the springs 24, 25 and the support S is designated with the symbol a. Evidently, the resilience of the spring 24 will be extremely stiff as compared to the resilience offered by the spring 25.

Coming, finally, to the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 it will be seen that the bearings 2b, 3b for the shaft ends of the supporting rollers 2, 3 are here supported by arms 30 and 31, respectively. Of course, each of the rollers will have two such arms, one at each end, but only one arm has been shown for each roller. The arms 30 and 31 are mounted on pivot mounts 32 and 33, respectively, and these mounts 32 and 33 are horizontally and vertically offset with respect to the axis of rotation of the associated roller 2, 3.

The free end of each of the arms 30, 31 is supported by a coil spring 34 and 35, and of course, more than one could be used. This embodiment corresponds to the operational effect obtained in the embodiment of FIG. 2, as the vibrations acting along the line A will act upon the spring 34 with a lever arm corresponding to the distance between point A at which they intersect the spring and the pivot mount 32. On the other hand, the vibrations acting upon line B will act upon the spring 35 with a different lever arm, namely that corresponding to the distance between point B and pivot mount 33. Since the second lever arm is substantially shorter than the first one, it is evident that the resilience opposed by the spring 35 to the vibrations will be substantially different from that offered by the spring 34, and hence despite the inherently identical spring characteristics and the identical construction in both instances, the damping of the vibrations will be different for the two rollers 2, 3.

In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the springs may also be arranged exactly below the axis of rotation of the respective rollers 2 and 3, and in lieu of the helical compression springs which are shown in the drawing it is also possible to use helical tension springs acting upon the arms 30, 31, to use leaf springs, rubber springs or dished springs.

The essential point of the invention is that the invention makes it possible to use spring arrangements for both rollers 2, 3 which are identical or nearly identical as to their structure and which are identical as to their spring characteristics that are inherent in them, but nevertheless to obtain different resilience and therefore different damping of the vibrations acting upon them. This makes it possible to avoid the disadvantages associated with priorart arrangements of this type, namely supporting arrangements for web-carrying rollers, but to do this with very simple constructions, and in fact with constructions which are even more simplified and more economical because the spring arrangements for both rollers 2, 3 can be identical and therefore be produced at less cost than would otherwise be possible.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a supporting arrangement, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

1. An arrangement of the character described, comprising a pair of first rollers mounted for rotation about respective substantially parallel and horizontal longitudinal axes; a second roller extending along and supported on said first rollers for rotation about its own longitudinal axis; and first and second spring means each mounting one of said first rollers yieldable with reference to said second roller, said spring means having identical inherent spring characteristics but being arranged asymmetrically with reference to a vertical plane passing through said longitudinal axis of said second roller, so that the spring effect afforded by the respective spring means differs despite said identical inherent spring characteristics.

2. An arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said first and second spring means have substantially identical structures.

3. An arrangement as defined in claim 1, said spring means comprising respective leaf springs each extending longitudinally of one of said first rollers and having a marginal portion fixedly connected to a support, said marginal portions each being offset vertically from the axis of rotation of the associated first roller and both being offset longitudinally in one and the same direction from the same axes of rotation.

4. An arrangement as defined in claim 3, wherein said leafsprings have major surfaces which include respective acute angles with the horizontal.

5. An arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said first rollers include bearings which journal them for rotation; and wherein each spring means comprises an arm having an end which carries one of said bearings, a pivot mounting said arm for pivotal movement and being vertically and horizontally offset from the axis of rotation of the associated first roller, and a spring element engaging the respective arm and resisting such pivotal movement thereof.

6. An arrangement as defined in claim 5, wherein said spring element is a helical spring.

7. An arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said spring means comprise respective leaf springs extending substantially longitudinally of said first rollers and each having a major surface which includes an acute angle with the horizontal, the angles included by the leafsprings of both spring means being open in one and the same direction. 

1. An arrangement of the character described, comprising a pair of first rollers mounted for rotation about respective substantially parallel and horizontal longitudinal axes; a second roller extending along and supported on said first rollers for rotation about its own longitudinal axis; and first and second spring means each mounting one of said first rollers yieldable with reference to said second roller, said spring means having identical inherent spring characteristics but being arranged asymmetrically with reference to a vertical plane passing through said longitudinal axis of said second roller, so that the spring effect afforded by the respective spring means differs despite said identical inherent spring characteristics.
 2. An arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said first and second spring means have substantially identical structures.
 3. An arrangement as defined in claim 1, said spring means comprising respective leaf springs each extending longitudinally of one of said first rollers and having a marginal portion fixedly connected to a support, said marginal portions each being offset vertically from the axis of rotation of the associated first roller and both being offset longitudinally in one and the same direction from the same axes of rotation.
 4. An arrangement as defined in claim 3, wherein said leafsprings have major surfaces which include respective acute angles with the horizontal.
 5. An arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said first rollers include bearings which journal them for rotation; and wherein each spring means comprises an arm having an end which carries one of said bearings, a pivot mounting said arm for pivotal movement and being vertically and horizontally offset from the axis of rotation of the associated first roller, and a spring element engaging the respective arm and resisting such pivOtal movement thereof.
 6. An arrangement as defined in claim 5, wherein said spring element is a helical spring.
 7. An arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said spring means comprise respective leaf springs extending substantially longitudinally of said first rollers and each having a major surface which includes an acute angle with the horizontal, the angles included by the leafsprings of both spring means being open in one and the same direction. 